9am arrived, and our friends Nausea and Mild Regret came along for the ride too. Still, up we got and met BJ. Carbohydrate was the first port of call, in the form of Chinese baked goods, and so began the uphill struggle to Victoria Peak.
We walked up via the Univeristy of Hong Kong where BJ is studying to see his campus. Queasy is an understantement to how I was feeling by now - the night before we had partied in LKF: this is esstially a neighbourhood of HK which tranforms into an enormous street party every Saturday night. Up we climbed, catching glimpses of the view down on the city which made for a lovely distraction. Hong Kong has more skyscrapers than I have ever seen in one place, and yet the hill we were climbing towered over them all.
By the time we had reached the top, the hangover had been burned off in a combination of sweat and adrenaline. The views were phenomenal. Hong Kong, which traslates as Fragrant Harbour, is an island and the Peak overlooks not only the island itself, but the bay in front.
We then caught a minibus down because we had used up all our combined energy on the incline. We found a place to have lunch on a side street in Central and I chose boiled pork and chive dumplings because I love dumplings, although if the rule of 'you are what you eat' applies to me then I may well soon become one.
On Sundays in Hong Kong, all the Filipino maids who work overseas have the day off, and they flock to the streets in droves. Sitting on flattened cardboard boxes and sheltered from the sun with umbrellas, these ladies set up camp in any public space to enjoy their day of rest. Food and beers; hair braiding and gossiping; this is their one day a week to relax, enjoy some company and in most cases, simply get out of the house that they serve for six sevenths of their time.
After lunch we wandered round 'Central' where a lot of businesses, banks and shops are. It's also home to Hong Kong Park, a rare oasis in a city with almost no respite from noise, crowds and traffic. Public spaces are so rare in Hong Kong that a lot of buildings have made their rooftops accessible, just to give the city's residents some space back (this is also why the Filipino women sit on the pavement, on roads, on bridges and on the piers, because there really isn't anywhere for them to gather in large groups).
Our feet began to ache from all the walking around, so we sat down by the waterfront and watched the sunset. The colours of the sunsets in HK are incredible because the pollution is so bad: the haze and smog from all the fumes make the night sky turn a wonderful shade of pinky-purple that no photo can do justice (trust me, we took loads and below looks dreary in comparison to real life!) There are no stars in the HK night sky because no only is traffic pollution a problem, so is light pollution. Every shopfront, skyscraper and market stall is emblazoned with advertisements - I didn't feel unsafe in Hong Kong because all the streets were so well lit!
We caught the Star Ferry across to Kowloon, the mainland side of Hong Kong (until this point we had been on Hong Kong Island) and watched an orchestrated light show on the skyscrapers across the water. The buildings light up with lasers and LEDs in time to music, which sounds far more impressive than it actually was. Because of the smog and the brightness of all the other city lights, the flashing buildings choregraphed to music was sadly unwhelming. Nevertheless, the viewing platform was packed with people, mostly non-tourists, who had settled down to watch the show with a beer or two. You are allowed to purchase and drink alcohol in public spaces and in the street in HK, and we often grabbed a (very cheap) beer from a corner shop and wandered round, drinking as we walked!
We then headed up to Temple Street night market, a long road jam-packed with market stalls, selling fake designer watches, handbags, sunglasses - you name it. It was quite crowded as is a popular spot with poeple from China, who come down to Kowloon to buy things cheaper than they are able to get in China itself. There were also swathes of fortune tellers, offering to read your palm or your face or Tarot cards to let you know what you were in for. We didn't go to one but they were very popular, with many people queueing beside someone's tent or table to have their futures revealed.
Exhausted from the day's activities, we caught the MTR - Hong Kong's version of the Underground - back to Sheung Wan and headed home.
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